Just like a marriage, without communicating (like, comments), Facebook relationships will deteriorateand will not survive.

Once the marriage ends in divorce (unfriend)

for God’s sake, don’t remarry your ex (confirmed friend request).

You are still you, if it didn’t work the first time, it will not work the second time. Ignore the proposal (friend request)

After a marriage has ended, and it does not bring you peace, seeing that person around your same circle of friends, put out a restraining order (block) and voila, you don’t have to see that face ever again.

Block is a wonderful feature on FB. It will help you not to make the same mistake again having accepted their proposal (friend accepted), and best of all, the relationship is TERMINATED and you both can move on to new ventures celebrating the New Year, the new YOU!

HAPPY 2018, the year of the YANG DOG.

We are what you chant. What we think, we will attract, especially when we think passionately and emotionally.

Learn to look at the glass as half full to attract positive results.

2018 is less than a month, enough time to change our thinking; one day at a time.

Last night, I attended an event and listened to a motivational speaker talk about adversity and she concluded saying:

“Do not let adversity destroy you; let it define you.”

I looked around the room filled with successful women as they gave her a standing ovation clapping cheerfully with appreciation.

I was speechless, as her talk was about successfully overcoming her personal lifetime adversities; one after another, but I felt she had been inviting adversity.

Once adversity defines you and is used as a measure of successful achievement, another will be set in its place as a challenge. Your successful conquests will develop a pattern introducing a new adversity. Directly or indirectly, another adversity will surface to no end of adversity.

May I remind you that the words adversity and goal-setting have two different meanings? We can choose goal-setting to attract opportunities or adversity to attract negative circumstances.

Conquering adversity should not be measured in life as successful. No one is successful by constantly looking back in the rearview mirror.

Adversity is a setback; Goal-setting is rewarding.

Looking ahead, the road in life will always be under construction offering goal-setting opportunities and rewards with beautiful rainbows on the horizon.

Words are powerful. The right thoughts; the right words will attract exactly what we chant.

In 2018, my motto will be:

“Do not allow adversity to define your destiny; let goal-setting bring you a bright future, and define your character and Persona.”

Life is filled with wonderful goals to be achieved, and should not beset adversity. Adversity can devour many areas of one’s life likened to the domino effect; tumbling one area after another.

Year 2017 is coming to an end at a fast speed, and it is best to be prepared to cross the finish line, welcoming 2018 with gusto, and toast the New Year with a glass half full rather than half empty.

It’s incredibly exciting to look forward to our new goals, filled with new opportunities, and freshness, not to cross the threshold carrying 2017 adversities to weigh down the beginning of a New Year.

HAPPY 2018, the year of the Yang Earth Dog.

Here is one thing I learned from being a speaker:

When you’re offered a stool to stand behind the podium, accept it with gratitude because if you don’t need it, don’t use it. Otherwise, when you’re already behind the podium, it is a bit late. In this photo, luckily, my head was above only a bit behind this monstrous podium at the Mariott Hotel.

(Photo of my last talk in November 2017 - Subject: #GRATITUDE)

GRATITUDE

If you are enveloped in bad luck, one after another.

Solution: STOP. PAUSE. REASSESS and GIVE THANKS.

Perhaps all those experiences that we think are bad luck, they are actually blessings in disguise stirring our souls, waking us up. A mediocre life often equates to the living dead.

And, I had an emotional attendee question me:

“Is losing a loved one a blessing in disguise?”

Answer: Yes, Birth, Death, Illness, and Old Age are the cycle of life. We all have to go through that cycle regardless of our social status. A curse is when you are outliving all your loved ones. Do you want to be the only one that was left behind?

Once in a while, I order this special drink; Soda sua hot ga, at #PhoCaDao, well, I don’t want to translate it into English because once I translate it, it will not sound too appetizing, but I assure you, it tastes super-duper yummy.

You see, in Viet Nam, my motherland, prior to 1975, having this special drink is similar to ordering Iranian Caviar, and with my Dad’s limited income as an Air Force Officer, we were lucky just to have food on the table.

I could only enjoy this drink during my final examines.

My Mom made this special drink because she believed that the organic egg yolk and all the “magic” ingredients in this drink formula would help me boost my energy, and increased my brain power while I studying for my examines. And, I supposed it worked because I received super-duper good grades.

November is the month of Gratitude; and, my heart filled with gratitude living here in America, the land of abundance, including jobs. If I want to earn extra income, I just have to work a bit harder. If I want to order food or drink, I can to my heart’s content.

And best of all, the FREEDOM to travel anywhere in the United States without having to ask for Government permission, as in my birth country, Viet Nam. I am THANKFUL.

Have a fantastic Black Friday Everyone. And if you are a San Diego resident, remember, property taxes are due on December 8th. So don’t spend all your money, okay?

If your parents are still alive, if you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder, you are blessed because you can offer a healing touch.

If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

NhaThoBaChuong Church in VietNam

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

Have a great day and don’t forget to COUNT ALL YOUR BLESSINGS!

Thank you for being a blessing in our lives. We love and appreciate you all.

Photos of my first trip, as a tourist in my birth country, VietNam recently, and, amazingly this photo was taken at the same location, DaNang where our President Donald Trump delivered a heartfelt, beautiful, uplifting speech that motivated us to do better and be better.

Seeing my motherland prosper and at peace after ongoing war, and now, only focusing on rebuilding makes my heart sing.

War is ugly. No one wins, including the winner. Having a son, I have more gratitude that he does not have to be drafted into the military, meaning he would have to go to a war zone because I would not want to become a grieving mother.

Here is our President Trump’s speech:

“Today, we are no longer enemies; we are friends.

And this port city is bustling with ships from around the world. Engineering marvels, like the Dragon Bridge, welcome the millions who come to visit Da Nang’s stunning beaches, shining lights, and ancient charms.

In the early 1990s, nearly half of Vietnam survived on just a few dollars a day, and one in four did not have any electricity.

Today, an opening Vietnamese economy is one of the fastest-growing economies on Earth. It has already increased more than 30 times over, and the Vietnamese students rank among the best students in the world. And that is very impressive…”

Or, as Gandhi taught: ” An eye for an eye will leave everyone blind.”

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I am grateful to have “relived” my childhood years during my recent visit to my motherland #VietNam.

Selfie @ Hoan Kiem Lake in the 1010-year-old city Ha Noi, Viet Nam

When I was growing up, the only photos we had were student ID’s and, perhaps once a year, a family portrait. We never thought of taking photos of our home or surroundings, because our Dad was prudent and frugal reminding us:

“Waste not, want not. Keep the main thing the main thing.”

The main thing according to my Dad is food on the table, clothes on our back, and the luxury to afford school because in Viet Nam, there were no freebies. You have to pay to have an education, which inspired us to study harder to earn good grades, and get accepted to a Government school free of charge.

Fast forward November 2017 ~

It was an emotional roller coaster for me when I saw this setting.

It was an exact replica of our childhood home, as if someone took photos of our home prior to 1975 and duplicated the setting:

The Living Room set

A motorcycle parked on the patio.

A Black dial telephone.

At that time, telephone calls were considered a luxury, but, because my Mom died when all of us were still very young, my Dad needed a phone to get hold of us when needed.

A solid wood dining table that we spent many happy days eating, talking, and making fun of one another.

An oil lamp, ready for use when there was no power.

A round insulated container to keep the teapot hot with tea.

A “Black and White” television set.

At that time, there was only black and white. We only had 2 hour television from 7 – 9 pm. My family was the only family in the neighborhood that had a television. So, around 6:30 pm, our home would fill quickly with neighbors anxiously waiting to watch TV. It was a jolly time laughing together, at comedy (Phi Thoan, Thanh Viet) or crying together saddened by (Kim Cuong, known as Viet Meryl Streep).

Our home was pleasantly chaotic filled with activity; those were the good old days, indeed!

THANK YOU VIET NAM, my motherland that gave me roots and THANK YOU AMERICA for nurturing, raising and supporting me to become the person I am.

November is a Thanksgiving month. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart …

In this photo, number 88 as a home address has nothing to do with good fortune or good feng shui. It is superstitious, just like when you see the house number 4 is supposed to be bad luck. And sadly, many lose the opportunity in buying a home with street address number 4 or paying too much to have the street address number 8.

The only number we should pay attention to is our Kua number, base on our birthdays, the cycle numbers, and where the flying stars visit in each year, so we can minimize bad luck and maximize good luck.

February 16, 2018 we are approaching the year of the Yang Earth Dog controlled by the Yang Earth Element, and will be a time of social change, how we’ll live our lives concerning health and social status, and if you notice, women are rising in higher position and authority because we are also approaching cycle 9, which means women rule!

Women, pay attention, you are now, more than ever, need to balance your life because you don’t want to love things that cannot love you back.

Most of us Viet people who grew up in Viet Nam before 1975 are familiar with these sandbags. Contrary to what most my American born friends think, sandbags, in my childhood memory, were lots of fun, because it meant … skipping school.

My Dad was an Airforce officer, and after my Mom died, he relocated us to live inside the officer’s airbase compound; easier for him to supervise us because during the war, sometimes, we had a 24 hour curfew, or Martial Law, meaning no school, and no civilians permitted to leave their homes.

So, when my siblings and me heard incoming rockets, we all hid in the basement filled with sandbags, flashlights, and finger food having shared ghost stories to hear each other laugh and scream.

Today, seeing these sandbags, brought back childhood memories and appreciation for all the soldiers, and saddened for those that had to die so we could live. It’s Veterans Day. THANK YOU, SOLDIERS. We appreciate you.

*** Footnote:

I am a child of war. I chose to remember the happy stories, not sadness. Same world. Different memories. Your choice.